Monthly Archives: October 2010

Hello all! We have A LOT to share, but I will be breaking it down into several posts so that it is a bit easier to digest : ) However, we have had people ask us to post our Timeline so that they can be in prayer for specifics as we get closer to our frozen embryo transfer (FET) stage of our adoption. So, here we go…ready?

10/31 –I start my first 2 meds (birth control pills-to control my cycle for the doctor to give these babies the best possible chance at a successful transfer–would I take BCPs for any other reason after all we have been through? The 2nd is doxycycline for 10 days to take care of any possible infection that could be hiding out in my body

The first week of Nov. – a big box of meds, syringes, and who knows what else arrives at our house. ($1,000+ please pray for provision)

11/1– our embryologist ships her travel tank to Maryland clinic

11/2 – our babies are transferred to the travel tank and shipped by FedEx that day (please pray for all who will handle our precious cargo)

11/3 – our little ones arrive at our Dallas clinic by 10:30 a.m.

11/15 – I begin Lupron injections

11/29 – $3,000 due to Dr. M in Dallas (praying for God’s provision for this)

11/30 – Did I mention I was doing meds and injections? Well, this is continuing and there are more of them now.

11/30 – leave to go out-of-state to take D-man to a Lyme Disease specialist.

12/1 – D-man has 1st appt with the Lyme specialist.

12/2 – D-man has 2nd appt with the Lyme specialist & return to TX.

12/7 – day trip to Dallas for a sonogram & blood work.

12/10 – day trip to Dallas for a sonogram & blood work (yes, I know we will have just made the 3 hr drive both ways 3 days ago)

12/16 late afternoon – our embryologist will thaw our Four 5-day morula stage embryos and call us at the hotel. Our surviving babies will be incubated overnight. (pray for our hearts to be prepared for this call)

12/17(morning)- Transfer Day! We will transfer which ever little ones God has for us that morning, whether they are the surviving incubated tiny ones or the one 6-day blastocyst that is ready to be thawed the morning of the transfer.

12/18 – begins 3 more days of bed rest in our hotel in Dallas.

Coming in the next few days…D-man’s Lyme Disease update (we would appreciate continued prayer please–he is a very sick young man), my latest autoimmune diagnosis (hint…APA), and more FET procedure questions answered.

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This is what we are trying to do in our home right now. I will tell you, so very little is EVER shared about Lyme Disease. We’ve all ‘heard’ about it and honestly, I heard about the disease more from our veterinarian when referring to protecting our dogs than I ever heard from anyones about protecting our children! As Christians, we do not live in fear. We are dealing with a nasty bacteria and the co-infections that can accompany Lyme Disease. There is no quick and easy cure as these types of bacteria live in tissues and only show in the bloodstream while traveling.

We are in the process of finding our son a specialist who is very familiar with Lyme Disease (LD). Easy you might think in the Houston area, but finding a true Lyme-Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) is not easy at all. So, as our family joyfully looks forward to our upcoming FET and the hope of pregnancy and birth of children, we are juggling that with helping our eldest fight the nasty bacteria that has entered his body.

God allowed us to find the tick and know that the symptoms our son is dealing with are all related to the bite eight weeks ago. We continue the herbal protocol and have now needed to introduce antibiotics to the regimen, but there is a need for us to find and get to an LLMD for proper clinical evaluation and testing to make sure we are only dealing with one bacteria. It is difficult to watch our teenage son who is intelligent, full of life and joy, shut down with pain and chronic fatigue.

There are so many people who suffer from LD and ever knew this until LD affected our family. So, I am balancing serving my Lord, serving & loving my husband & my children (including our 5 wee ones) & balancing researching this disease.

I will keep you posted…

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We got word today that our embryologist in Dallas will ship her tank to Baltimore and then our little ones will ship overnight to us and be in Dallas on November 3rd! Please pray for our little ones’ safety and health as they are handled & transported. Please pray that all who come in contact with our little ones will stop to think about what they are truly handling, precious lives. May God move and stir the hearts of all who come in contact with our little babies. We serve an amazing God and we thank you for joining us in prayer!

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It is over. All is cleaned up. We took some VERY special friends to dinner to celebrate God’s gracious gifts. Rhea and the boys are out picking up the yard sale signs around the area. Next? We will count all of the money God has blessed us with! Our goal was $2500. Update coming soon….

info added 9:30 p.m. Sat. : Well it is all counted. After praying with tears in our eyes and praising God for His blessings of provision, friendship, and prayers & love from others, we are still trying to let this all sink in.

Our Goal: $2,500.00Our total sales for 3 days: $2,767.00Our total from the donation jar we had out during the sale: $ 176.00Refund check received this weekend from the Houston doc who quit working with us: $300.00

Grand total God blessed us with this weekend: $ 3,243.00!!

We are mailing a check to Nightlight on Monday for $3,500. This is our final payment and our 5 little ones will be in Dallas so very soon. I start meds the first week of November. Our transfer will be in December and God willing, we will be giving birth to a child in August!

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I found this video. It was uploaded just 3 weeks ago. It is put out by the NEDC. It is narrated by Chelsea Noble Camer*n, includes interviews with Dr. Keenan & staff, and also includes our EA coordinator from Nightlight Christian Adoptions, Megan Fabian!

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I do not function well in clutter, but this is for a VERY good cause. Today & tomorrow for schooling, it is Bible, the 3Rs and then garage sale pricing & picking up more items if we get the call to do so. Rhea is working 1/2 days this week, but battled all weekend with a head cold. I am praying he is 100% nowtoday soon.

I thought I would share some pictures of what we have been blessed with so far. If you are curious how you can help scroll down past the pictures. Also, if you are clutter-phobic, you might want to scan down as well. ; )

Our Master sitting room: nowhere to sit eh? I am putting all of the “nicer” clothing on hangers and Rhea made me the neatest clothes racks out of scraps from around the shop. I will post those later.

This is my dining room (not exactly pics to give to the realtor when listing my home, huh?) Truly this has been great. I have begun to sort all the children’s clothing in here. Again, nicer items on hangers. (did I mention, we need more hangers?)

Ah yes, the garage…piles of blessings from others! The top layer was all on our driveway this weekend, but with rain coming today and tomorrow the boys had to pile it all in. I will work form the sides today.

The larger items tarped on our driveway. We are prayerful the rain is a short, little thunderstorm. We are grateful the forecast for Wed – Sat is sunny!!

Here is our empty, lonely trailer, waiting for someone to call us so it can pick up more donations : )

Finally, these are the 4 crotons I purchased with a gift card at Home D*pot last week. They will have to wait to be potted next week!

For our local friends:

We have had several people ask, “What can I do to help?”

**We know you are praying and that is so important to us during this time. We know God will provide all funds needed in His timing. We are just being diligent, busy bees as He provides a way for us. So, we are thankful for your prayers for us!

**You can spread the word to your church, neighbors, and friends about our sale next weekend. We will take anything anyone might have to sell. We have a trailer to pick up large items this weekend and next week if needed. (I will send a flyer in a future e-mail)

**If you are an organizer-type, we would welcome you on Wednesday to help sort and prepare for the sale. (sandwich fixins provided)

**If you have folding tables to use at the sale you could let us borrow, those are needed.

**If you would like to come help with the sale for any part of the day, an extra adult is always helpful.

**If you would like to donate a case of water, sodas, or snacks to sell at the sale, that would be appreciated.

I will update with pics throughout the week. I am off to go to our local dry cleaner stores and ask for hanger donations : )

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Today as I was sorting through our master closet, getting “real” about what should actually remain hanging and what should be tossed in the garage sale pile, a friend knocked on the door. She brought her kiddos and our kiddos were happy to have a short break to visit with friends. She brought me the yummiest candle for my birthday. Guess what the scent is? Snickerdoodle! I told you it was YUM!

This same friend started thumbing through some of the kiddo clothes I was going to possibly put up on eBay and guess what? We have our first sale for our fundraiser! God is providing for us one little step at a time. So, I must be diligent and get back to the closet. Yes, I am gutting closets on my birthday. I am focused on another birthday for our little ones who are stuck in a freezer. I’ll post more a little later..

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The news that we would need more money to move forward, was but a mere speed bump to my husband. I am the one who approaches speed bumps in a parking lot cautiously and goes over them slowly and then there is Rhea : ) While I am still determining if I need to slow down anymore before going over the speed bump, Rhea has hit it into 4-wheel drive and moved on down the road.

Saturday, Rhea & the boys went to our storeroom. It is a place where our business and our personal stuff mix. It has needed a good “reality” check for quite some time. Well, with the weather cooled down in Texas, our store room got a good fall cleaning. We have stuff to bring back to the house for the garage sale we will be hosting in a couple of weekends. In the past, God has provided as we have raised $400 – $500 at our sales, but this time we are praying for even bigger numbers!

We know of those who have recently adopted or are in the process of adopting who have raised $2500 – $4500 in a weekend. I am praying big. Our babies are in a freezer and the agency is waiting on the word (and check) to transport our babies to Dallas. Our clinic is waiting on my autoimmune testing results, but says that we can plan for a December transfer no matter the results.

Rhea and I have crunched numbers and are gearing up for another round of items to go up on e-bay & preparing for a yard sale weekend after next. The kiddos are diligently focused in our studies this week so they can help organize for the sale next week. If you are local and have ANYTHING you would like to donate, please contact us.

Indeed, the LORD will givewhat is good, And our land will yield its produce. Righteousness willgobefore Him And will make His footsteps into a way. Ps 85:12,13 (NASB)

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Thank you Donna for thinking of me this week! Your blog is an encouragement to so many. Though I have known you for several years, I still don’t see how you get it all done, but I am so glad you share it with the rest of us!

The rules of the “One Lovely Blog Award” are as follows:

Accept your award and post it on your blog along with a link to the person who has sent it to you. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered. You must contact the person to let them know that you have chosen them to receive the award.

I have been so grateful to meet a whole new group of adoption bloggy friends these last six months as we have moved through the EA process. There are too many to mention here, but I would like to award the One Lovely Blog Award to the following Embryo Adoption mommies to ones still in the freezer or to ones in heaven, ones growing in their bellies, or to ones running through their home! Here they are, in no particular order, as they have been a huge source of information & encouragement as Rhea & I have traveled this new adoption road.

I would also like to award the One Lovely Blog Award to these bloggy pals who have been with me from the beginning of our adoption journey two years ago. They all have brought home their children, but I have loved watching their families grow and they still check in to cheer us on! LisaRachelTamiCocoOops, this is more than 15 ; )Some of the ladies I mentioned in this post just found out they are pregnant, others recently found out that they are miscarrying, others share life at home after adoption, while others are preparing for their FETs very soon. If you want to be encouraged even during trying times, or laugh at the craziness of life, these friends above do just that!